Serial Killers Essay

The phenomenon of a female serial killer is rare. When people think of female serial killers they often think Aileen Wuornos was the first, and worst, with her multiple murders in 1989. However, that is untrue. Many female serial killers came before Wuornos, including Belle Gunness. Belle began her crimes of arson in the late 1880’s and escalated to murder by 1900 (Rosewood & Lo, 8-10). She transitioned from a young immigrant, to an organized serial killer driven by her motive of profit. What…

The Oxford dictionary defines a serial killer as a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant break, known as a "cooling off period” between them. Many characteristics or signs can be displayed by a serial killer that they do not have any control over. Some of these characteristics and signs being: very antisocial, arson, early childhood abuse, peeing the bed…

H.H.Holmes was one of America's first serial killers. He killed a large amount of victims by making a hotel designed to be a murder house. His tactics are the reason why so many people learn about him and why he is still remembered today. H.H.Holmes was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire on May 16th, 1861. His birth name was Herman Webster Mudgett. His parents were named Levi Horton Mudgett and Theodate Page Price. Holmes had three siblings, two older and one younger. His older sister was named…

Herman Webster Mudgett, most commonly known as H. H. Holmes, was one of the very first documented serial killers. He was born in Gilmanton New Hampshire on May 16, 1861 where he lived with his parents and his three other siblings. Despite his father being a violent alcoholic, he was known to excel in school which also lead to bullying of jealous classmates. In an attempt to scare him, his classmates would force him into a local doctor’s office and make him stand face to face with a human…

Are serial killers born or made? Do you remember being a child? Being so innocent and full of life. Waking up and wondering when your favorite tv show is gonna come on or which toy to play with first. Waiting for your parents to wake up and being so impatient that you just run and jump into the bed so excited to get a goodmorning hug and kiss from your mom and dad. The excitement of knowing you’re gonna be able to go outside and play with all your friends and not worry about anything except…

has constructed a set variety of norms that all serial killers are naively presumed to follow. Many myths state that all serial killers are loners, have a mental disability, and have an underlying desire to get caught. The question on what to blame for a person becoming a serial killer has always haunted authorities. It would be a gullible and uneducated claim to base all serial killers in one set of norms, especially when the nature of a serial killer shows their individuality through the…

Serial killers. When brought up the same questions are always asked from the curious: how they did it? But what people need to be asking is why they did it? At first it may be a hard to answer question, but in reality, by putting together different past events, scenarios can be created that can be related to popular theories that can explain that it is due to how a person is raised that can affect whether or not they become a serial killer. Three serial killers that this is applicable to are Ted…

To start with, Joel Rifkin is a serial killer from the New York City and Long Island area who strangled between nine to seventeen prostitutes between the years of 1989 to 1993 but was officially arrested on June 28, 1993. Typically, he would employ prostitutes for the sake of company but when it was "time" and/or when he got tired of them he would strangle them, collect trophies from the event to later reflect on, and finally dump his victims. Before he got apprehended was on his way to dump his…

Victims, Cecilia Shephard age 22 and Bryan Hartnell age 20 were the Zodiac’s next center of attention. He approached them and claimed that he had killed a guard and stole a car because he was an escaped convict from the Montana prison. He explained that he then wanted their money and car to go to Mexico. Even though the couple agree to the plan Zodiac made Bartnell “hog tie” Shephard with precut pieces of clothes line he provided. He then tied Bartnell up too and said “I'm going to have to stab…

Is it possible to commit thirty-three separate murders and get away with it? One of America’s most famous serial killers was very close to doing just that. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. has to be considered one of our nations most notorious and evil serial killers of all time. He murdered and sexually assaulted 33 young men between the years of 1972-1978. Gacy was finally arrested and sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. The most surprising thing of all about Gacy was that people considered him an…